Black women need access to paid family and medical leave

One issue that has received particular attention throughout the COVID-19 pandemic is how the lives of working families will change. Lack of comprehensive supportThings like paid family and medical leave threaten short- and long-term financial security. Much of the public conversation focuses on how the lack of these supports forces many women out of the workforce to fill the gaps in caring for their families and themselves. However, what is often lost in this discussion is that many women, especially low-income women, single mothers, and women of color, are unable to address their care needs because their economic contributions are too important. It means they can’t afford to leave the workforce. Affects the financial stability of the family.

In particular, the experiences of black women, who have the highest labor force participation rates but disproportionately work in low-wage jobs with few benefits, are instructive. Their experience points to the need to build on the country’s recovery to date, to ensure that women can keep their jobs without compromising their economic security, and to ensure that no one is left behind. First, it is clear that policy support to support women who face nursing care issues is essential. .

While the need for paid leave extends across race, ethnicity, and gender, this column focuses specifically on Black women. This is because black women often participate in the labor force and play outsized economic roles in their families. In fact, the vast majority of Black mothers (more than 80%) are the sole breadwinner, primary breadwinner, or co-breadwinner in their household. This is significantly higher than the percentage of mothers of other races and ethnicities, demonstrating how important Black women’s income is to their families’ financial security.

Black women’s need for time off often goes unmet

Like all women, Black women often have unmet needs for caregiver, parental, and health leave. According to a study by the Center for American Progress, working black women need about 2.9 million vacation days a year, but 1.1 million (38%) are not taken. This includes 75,000 (21%) who needed but did not take parental leave, 291,000 (55%) who needed but did not take parental leave, and 291,000 (55%) who needed but did not take their own health leave. This includes 721,000 tickets (36%) that were not acquired for the purpose of purchase. (See Figure 1)

Figure 1

The inability to meet these needs is due in part to the lack of strong policies to address care needs, and that failure is linked to long-standing racial concerns that have devalued care work and care workers. It is deeply rooted in sexual and gender bias. Black women, who make up a disproportionate share of paid caregivers, have been expected to provide care for others for low wages, with little regard for whether their own care needs are met.

The magnitude of unmet leave need among Black women is particularly concerning, given that existing health disparities in the United States affect Black women the most. This includes unacceptably high and tragic rates of chronic disease. High maternal and infant mortality rates. In fact, Black women and their infants are significantly more likely to die in the first few weeks of life than any other group.

Taking paid vacation This could allow sick Black women to get the treatment they need early and manage their ongoing care. The health effects of a lack of paid leave have been particularly acute during the COVID-19 pandemic, with an estimated 10 percent of people infected with the virus experiencing debilitation. long-term symptoms. In fact, a recent CAP analysis demonstrated that there will be an estimated 1.2 million more people with disabilities by the end of 2021 as a result of COVID-19.

Thirty-eight percent of Black women who need time off do not take it, but many Black women who do take time off do so without receiving pay. Black women receive 1.8 million vacation days a year, about 42 percent of which are unpaid. Unpaid leave is especially common for black women taking parental leave, with 55% of the parental leave taken by black women being unpaid. Additionally, 40 percent of the time off Black women take for their own health is unpaid, as is 36 percent of their caregiver leave.

Even when black women are able to take paid time off from their employers, they often do not receive their full pay. For this group of women, paid leave with higher or full wage replacement rates is the financial support they need to take the amount of leave they need, not the amount they can live on. may be provided.

Lack of paid leave has a significant economic impact on Black women

Black women and their families can find themselves in a precarious financial situation if they do not receive a paycheck or receive only a portion of their paycheck during the holidays. Using simulation models to estimate vacation wage losses, research shows that Black women lose an estimated $3.9 billion each year in vacation wage losses. Of that amount, $2.8 billion is from her personal medical leave, $866.4 million from her parental leave, and $223.7 million from her family care leave. A limitation of this model is that it does not take into account the wage loss due to unemployment if time off is required, which could result in higher estimates of lost wages.

These wage losses can have a dramatic impact on household finances. A significant proportion of black families depend on black women’s income. In fact, her recent CAP analysis found that a total of 68 percent of Black mothers were the sole or primary breadwinner in their household, and 82 percent were the sole or primary breadwinner or co-breadwinner. . Therefore, because Black women’s families are more likely to rely on their own income, they are likely to feel the loss of income from a lack of paid leave the most acutely.

conclusion

Now more than ever, the lack of federal paid leave policies is being felt by workers across the country. This is especially true for black women. Families of Black women are more likely to rely on them for both caregiving needs and financial security.

The emergency paid leave provisions provided through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) provided up to two weeks of emergency paid sick leave and up to 12 weeks of emergency parental leave to help reduce the number of early days of the pandemic. month, we at least partially filled this gap. . But these provisions excluded millions of people and have since expired. While these emergency paid leave policies have undoubtedly been an economic lifeline for millions of Black women and their families, data shows that even in a “normal” non-pandemic year, Black women Evidence suggests that there is a significant unmet need for paid leave for caregiving among Americans. , economic and health inequalities.

Policymakers can address workers’ immediate critical care needs by reinstating paid leave provisions and strengthening them by making them available to all workers, regardless of employer size or sector. You can deal with it. This includes providing short-term and long-term medical and caregiver leave, increasing the maximum allowable length of leave, increasing wage replacement rates, expanding the definition of family to include selected family members, and using paid leave. This includes providing employment protection to people.

Policymakers need to focus on durable solutions that improve overall job quality by creating protections that allow workers to take time off for caregiving without risking job loss. There is. Adopting a national paid leave policy is essential to better support the needs of Black women and all workers and promote racial, gender, and economic equity.

Jessica Miri is the principal and founder of Research 2 Impact, where she provides expert guidance to organizations and philanthropists on using research to drive social change. Jocelyn Fry is chair of the National Partnership for Women and Families. Maggie Jo Buchanan is senior director of the Women’s Initiative at the Center for American Progress.

methodology

In this column’s analysis, Simulation of employees taking paid leave (Worker PLUS) A model developed by IMPAQ International and the Women’s Policy Research Institute for the U.S. Department of Labor. The Worker PLUS model models worker leave-taking behaviors and outcomes using data from the Family and Medical Leave Act Employee Survey and simulates behaviors and outcomes from the American Community Survey (ACS) .

Because of the large sample size and rich demographic information about respondents, ACS output data from the Worker PLUS model can be used to assess leave need, leave-taking behavior, and whether Black women receive pay while on leave. can be analyzed in detail. You can take time off in ways that weren’t possible before due to data limits. Using data on workers’ leave-taking patterns, wages, whether they received wages while on leave, and the amount of wages they received, CAP was able to estimate the total amount of wages black women lost while on leave. Ta.